I'm surprised that they have remained 'in your company' for this long. Generally speaking, most and especially the zealous ones, will avoid any social interaction with 'wordly' people because you are 'bad association'. If after a certain length of time you appear definitely non interested in joining the organization then they should be dropping you and finding another possible recruit. By attending some meetings and showing some interest, they may honestly believe that you will join up with the Society. As for their kids - well, everyone has a different outlook. I don't believe that raising kids in an atmosphere of fear and guilt to the degree of eliminating critical thinking, independence, curiousity, motivation and hope for a future are good things. sw.
sammielee24
JoinedPosts by sammielee24
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Advice for non-JW please
by Joe Grundy inhaving visited this site on many occasions, and having been recommended to it, i am confident that it is a source of good advice from people who know about these things.
i would be grateful for any advice you can offer me.. i have been an atheist for 20+ years, but before that was a non-conformist protestant with degrees of belief varying from acceptance to enthusiasm.
my atheism resulted from research because of my (continuing) interest in the effects of religion.
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65
Better off Poor in UK than Rich in US!
by Seeker4 innational public radio this morning had a story about a study of middle-aged (55-64 yo) whites in the uk compred to the us.
they were shocked at the results.
the study was done to try to find out the effects of poverty on health , which is why they just studied whites, to eliminate the effects of race.
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sammielee24
Cost of food - I just finished some shopping and also ate out this week so here's a comparison - California prices and I always try and shop for the best deals/lowest prices...
Lunch for two people - 1 subway sandwich - 12" - 5.99 and 2 bottles of water @.99 each = abt $8.00 for lunch.
Lunch for two people 2 days ago at a burger joint - 2 supersize cheese burgers 1.39 each (mayo/lettuce/tomato) plus an order of fries abt 1.50 plus a soda cost about $8.00.
Today I paid for dinner for two people - $1.32 for 3 very small zuchinni; $1.00 for 1 measly green pepper; $1.53 for 1 measly red pepper; $2.84 for salad greens; chicken breasts $5.57 for a total of abt $13.00. No bread, no leftovers and I make it myself.....now if you are really trying to be on top of it all, you would find for example that the same red pepper if organically grown would now cost double what I paid and a carton of 12 cage free eggs runs $2.22 instead of the $.98 for regular eggs.
You can pick up a lot of boxed and frozen, starchy/fat/processed foods for less than you can the fresh or more healthy stuff - I know many of us have done it. It costs a lot to eat healthy and for those families trying to make a dollar go a long way, I understand why they eat the way they do. The breads and fats taste good and fill you up. That being said, I realize that dessert can be a bowl of sugar free jello and a can of beans is still more healthy to eat, but in the long run, I can understand the appeal and rationale for buying fast food especially when you have a bunch of kids to feed on a limited income.
sammieswife.
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sammielee24
Yes. Although there are some positive aspects of life inside the WTS in the way of public speaking and morals, those positive things may have come about regardless. Those aspects cannot undo a life of emotional distance, an illusion of family and life forever, forgoing education, making poor decisions in life based on a lie - there are too many cruelties to list. The belief in a right to act so righteously in the name of the WTS and cause such pain for others including one's own fleshly family. A life where there are no memories of close childhood celebrations, giving up a teenage love of sports; never having dated; gone to a dance; getting to know non JW relatives; being taught to judge others unjustly and following through on those teachings; terrified of demons as a child; seeing evil and Satan everywhere outside the KH...the basis for being raised as a JW is a lifetime of fear, pessimism and a distance from the world and everyone in it. Finding out the 'truth' about the society when you are over 50, not only rips up your entire foundation, but it narrows your options down considerably when you realize that you have no money, no education, no pension, no friends, no family, no hobbies etc and you have only a short time left to try to catch up. The betrayal of the Watchtower is all encompassing and it becomes the basis of destruction for so many families and so many people when they leave.
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99
Sign Governors' petition to President Bush to lower gas prices!
by FlyingHighNow inour governer, jennifer granholm and other governors have come up with a petition to cap oil company profits and bring the price of gas down.
please read about it.
please sign it and encourage everyone you know to sign it.
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sammielee24
CEO Pay Soared in 2004 as U.S. Economy Stumbled
By MARC MCDONALD
CEO pay continues to soar into the stratosphere, while wages for the average American worker stagnate.
Forbes magazine reports that the CEOs of America's 500 biggest companies received an aggregate 54 percent pay raise last year. As a group, their total compensation totaled $5.1 billion (compared with $3.3 billion in fiscal 2003).
Conservatives, no doubt, would argue that under America's free market system, these chief executives "earned" their pay. But did they?
Forbes, a publication not exactly considered to be in the progressive camp, seems to think otherwise.
The magazine says some CEOs "did so bad they should have paid their shareholders."
Take Peter Cartwright of Calpine, a maker of gas-fired power plants. Forbes reports that Calpine's average annual return to shareholders over the past six years has been minus 7 percent. During the same period, Cartwright pocketed an average annual $13 million.
America's CEOs are by far the highest paid CEOs of any nation on earth. Which begs a question: why?
The U.S. economy isn't exactly stellar at the moment. In fact, an increasing number of commentators warn that America's economy is facing a major crisis.
Our exploding fiscal and trade deficits are the highest that any developed nation has ever seen. America's once-vaunted manufacturing base has been hollowed out. And the dollar continues to crumble in value.
Exploding CEO pay is a relatively recent phenomenon in U.S. history. For example, in the 1960s, the average CEO earned around 40 times what the rank-and-file workers earned. Today the average CEO makes over 500 times what the average worker earns. And the gap continues to widen, year by year.
Like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, conservatives are constantly coming up with reasons to justify soaring CEO pay. Here are three of my favorites:
CEOs create jobs. They create shareholder value. They have supposedly made the U.S. economy the strongest and most competitive in the world.
First of all, let's take a look at jobs. The past few years haven't exactly been a boon to job seekers in the U.S. Fewer and fewer jobs are being created these days. And the jobs that do exist are paying less and offer increasingly meager benefits. And American employees work the longest hours in the industrialized world, as author Juliet Schor pointed out in her book, The Overworked American.
Now, consider the issue of "shareholder value." The past few years haven't exactly been stellar for the stock market. But even the CEOs who preside over companies with sinking share value continue to pocket huge compensation packages.
Last, but not least: let's take a look at America's "competitiveness" these days.
A recurring mantra with America's mainstream and business press is that the U.S. is the most "competitive" economy in the world. A casual look at America's current trade figures, though, explodes this myth.
The fact is, America has the largest trade deficits of any First World nation in history. It seems to me that the U.S. has a difficult time these days creating products that other nations want to buy. Meanwhile, Americans line up to buy products from countries like Germany (which exceeds even China as the world's largest exporter) and Japan---despite the fact that average wages in those two countries are now higher than U.S. wage levels.
If U.S. corporations are really that "competitive" these days, it seems strange to me that America's CEOs seem to have a tough time making ends meet without corporate welfare.
Take Wal-Mart for example. The world's largest corporation (with over $286 billion in annual sales) cost American taxpayers over $1.5 billion in 2004, according to Walmartwatch.com.
If you want to get an idea of how out-of-control soaring CEO pay has gotten, it's important to look at the CEO pay of America's automakers. To me, Detroit sums up many of the major problems that America's economy as a whole faces these days.
Detroit's CEOs have long pocketed by far the highest compensation levels of any auto executives in the world.
This shouldn't really be surprising: American CEOs in general have long raked in vastly higher pay packages than their overseas counterparts. U.S. CEOs make, on average, 22 times what their counterparts make in Japan and 17 times what their counterparts earn in Europe.
If pay is somehow tied to performance, then you'd think that America's automakers are the world's most competitive, correct?
If so, you'd be wrong. Detroit, in fact, has been steadily losing market share to foreign automakers for the past five decades. And the blame for this can be laid squarely on the shoulders of Detroit's CEOs, who've made one stupid decision after another for decades. One recent example: Detroit's decision to stake everything on gas-guzzling SUVs, while the Japanese were busy perfecting hybrid technology. (Hybrids are currently by far the auto industry's hottest segment).
Detroit CEOs have long complained that "it's not their fault" and have offered up one excuse after another as to why America's car companies are losing market share. My favorite excuse of theirs is that foreign automakers' workers earn less than their America counterparts (an excuse that the U.S. mainstream and business media has never bothered to challenge).
A quick look at the numbers explodes this lie. The fact is, automaker employees in both Japan and Germany earn higher salaries than U.S. automaker workers do these days. Japan's wages run 30 to 40 percent higher than Detroit's wages. And German automakers workers earn around $49/hour on average versus $39/hour for Detroit's workers.
Although U.S. automaker workers earn less than their foreign counterparts, Detroit CEOs make vastly higher pay packages than their counterparts do in Germany or Japan.
This vast gulf was vividly demonstrated in 1998 when German automaker Daimler-Benz took over U.S. automaker Chrysler. As it turned out, the CEO of Daimler-Benz, Jurgen Schrempp, was earning a pay package that was less than one-tenth of the pay package of Chrysler CEO Robert Eaton.
One might think, given the gigantic pay packages of America's CEOs these days, that being a chief executive is a demanding job. It seems to me that the opposite is true. CEOs seem to do little more these days than bitch and moan and offer up excuses for their companies' declining fortunes. There are always plenty of handy scapegoats around. Unions. Democrats. "Excessive" red tape and regulations. Lower wages overseas. Ad nauseam.
It seems to me that, far from having a difficult job, America's CEOs actually have one of the easiest jobs in the world these days. When things aren't going well, simply blame others for your mistakes (shades of the Bush White House here). And, if that doesn't work, simply ask for another round of corporate welfare from the government.
# posted by Marc McDonald @ 5:36 -
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Sign Governors' petition to President Bush to lower gas prices!
by FlyingHighNow inour governer, jennifer granholm and other governors have come up with a petition to cap oil company profits and bring the price of gas down.
please read about it.
please sign it and encourage everyone you know to sign it.
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sammielee24
One suggestion by one gov't rep has been for Bush to heavily tax excessive profits. His prediction is that you would see gas prices fall substantially overnight. Now the question remains - what would the cut off be in order to determin excessive profit? What kind of percentage would be reasonable?
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Best Committee Meeting Yet - They threatened to call the police on me!
by SickofLies inyeee haaa!
i'm an outlaw now!
the elders warned me that if any i talk about anything said in the judicial committee or post any pictures i've taken, i'm in big trouble and i don't want these people as enimies!
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sammielee24
By the way, could you send me a PM with the congregation name, address, phone, as well as the names of each of the elders involved with their addresses and phone numbers, and an individual profile for each elder involved (in your opinion) for a database I'm working on? They claim to be ecclesiastical (minister or clergy class) in courts, so I am about to make them know what that means from the side of losing their expectation of privacy.
AuldS....I may have missed one of your previous posts where you mentioned this. What is the database going to be for and who will use it?
sammieswife.
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Sign Governors' petition to President Bush to lower gas prices!
by FlyingHighNow inour governer, jennifer granholm and other governors have come up with a petition to cap oil company profits and bring the price of gas down.
please read about it.
please sign it and encourage everyone you know to sign it.
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sammielee24
It's so easy for the "have nots" to criticize the "haves"......they earned it fair and square.
Yeah right. I guess you can believe they didn't scheme, backstab, grease palms, lie, cheat....you can believe they 'earned' it fair and square if the illusion fills your world. A few maybe - certainly not all.
As for GM, Ford, or any other big company...I admire most of those I've met that worked on the lines because I've known them - men who travelled 4 hours a day to get to their factory jobs, hard working, loyal, honest, family men. Not just in factory jobs but in agriculture, hospitals, penal institutes, social services, nursing homes - but then I've also known many who rose to the top - not because of their qualifications but simply because of who they knew - what promises they made - how much money they had....it's not complaints or criticism but thats what I've seen - that's my reality.
Do I think celebrities are overpaid? You betcha! By a long shot! Sports heroes? Models? Dang right! I think it's ridiculous simply because I don't understand the need to acquire so much in the way of money and things. Kind of like a 50,000 sq foot house for 5 people - I don't see the point of it all. But that's me...and to each their own.
As I said - I'm not debating the issue because I've heard both sides for so long it all wears thin - what will be will be and in time, what must change - will. Just my HO. sw.
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Sign Governors' petition to President Bush to lower gas prices!
by FlyingHighNow inour governer, jennifer granholm and other governors have come up with a petition to cap oil company profits and bring the price of gas down.
please read about it.
please sign it and encourage everyone you know to sign it.
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sammielee24
It's okay FHN - I happen to agree that when a CEO of an oil company can rake in 700 million and another 300 million bonus from the profits - while the poor and middle class take the hit - well it's sad really. How many million can you possibly need to live on? I see no problem with a cap...and why not have the government fix it? sammieswife...just an opinion and not a debate -
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Did Katie Holmes yell or cry or moan?
by MsMcDucket inthe most-anticipated coming attraction in hollywood is finally here.
no, not mission: impossible 3 (although that new trailer is pretty rockin').
its the tom cruise - katie holmes baby, a girl named suri.
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sammielee24
..don't know Stilla..I have a hard time imagining Tom getting excited about anything other than his religion. There is just something about the guy that really turns me off - he just seems to have a real look of 'expected' control and bullying about him - as if only he matters and and what he thinks and if you don't - well hey - who needs you. Like a self centered, arrogant, puffed self important aura around him...maybe he isn't like that but thats what I see in him. I recall his interview with Matt Lauer and how abrasive he was. It's okay to have an opinion but he comes across as having the knowledge and experience behind the opinion which to his mind makes him right - and that's scary. Anyway, I digress - they don't come across as earthy, animal lust and hot passion types........sammieswife
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Has anyone else here heard about May 1st and what do you think about it?
by WildHorses ini heard about this on the hispanic channel the other night and looked it up just now and found this link.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1609256/posts.
they plan a one day boycott in which they will not spend one cent on that day.
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sammielee24
allow companies to investigate if someone is illegal
There is a process that is already in place and has been for years apparently - any employer can call up a site and enter the SSN for a person that will validate the data the person has given. That is the fastest way for any employer to check and see if the applicant is legal - but - only 5% or so of any business use this system.
I think the time spent on the floor arguing and debating the issue is just going to prolong it. If the next Mexican president is hard line and anti-American, things are just going to get worse.
On an added note regarding the labor etc., I find it interesting that California has halted a lot of milk coming in from Arizona (I think) because it sells in California for abt 2.00 whereas local State milk costs a dollar more. Mexican farmers are saying how the importation of milk products from California have hurt their farming because they can no longer sell for the same lower price offered by the American companies. It's a vicious circle. sammieswife.